My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Megan Miranda has produced another very well written, cleverly plotted thriller. One night, Olivia Meyer awakens from a sleep walking episode outside her house. (She has had a history of sleep-walking since early childhood.) To her horror, she discovers the body of a man at her feet - and her hands are covered in blood.

As the story unfolds, you aren't sure whether Olivia is an unreliable narrator or really can't remember what happened to her - that night, or two decades ago when she was swept away by a flash flood when she was only six years old. In the first chapter, Olivia's response (relief tinged with guilt) to the news about her mother's death is the first clue that all was not as it seemed twenty years ago. Throughout the novel, Olivia often makes cryptic comments about keeping things and information hidden. Was Olivia complicit in the many crimes that seem to surround her? And what happened to the box cutter which has mysteriously disappeared? Who took it?

And then another body turns up! (No spoilers here!) Everyone is a suspect after a while.

I enjoyed this novel. I would have given this 5 stars, but I found the story emotionally sterile. I get that Megan Miranda wants to be taken seriously as a mystery writer. For some readers, any romantic element in a story promptly puts this type of novel into a different category for them, which is a shame because this means that a book is only taken seriously by them - and not on the merits of the excellent writing and plot - if there are no romantic entanglements to sort through. Megan Miranda has been weaning her adult readers off of any romantic element in her novels since <u>The Last House Guest.</u>. Personally, I used to enjoy those elements of romance in her adult mysteries. She does them extremely well: always very sophisticated and never over the top. In Miranda's last few adult thrillers, I felt like I had been sent to emotional Rehab.

I think it is a shame that Miranda is deliberately avoiding any serious romantic relationships between her characters in her adult thrillers. I don't want to harp about how there is a sub-classification of "Women's Fiction, aka Chick Lit" in the publishing industry, and how we have only recently started hearing the term "Lad-Lit". Miranda has a right to avoid trite Happily Every After tropes, but <u>All the Missing Girls</u> was her masterpiece, in my opinion. Since then, her writing has gotten dryer: good for some readers, I'm sure, but the rest of us are suffering from major withdrawal. Still, this was a very good thriller, with an excellent twist at the end.

Oh my goodness, this was great! 4.5 stars, what a wild spun yarn.

I really enjoyed the perspective of main character Olivia, I think she was a really good balance between aware and logical, yet cautious. One of my favorite things from this story is the atmosphere created with Liv and the house where she lives. The eerie middle-of-nowhere feeling, next to her neighbor that is a little odd and a little mysterious. The general feeling of creeping dread and "someone is watching you" follows Olivia throughout and it is written very well. The call is coming from inside the house!

I found the story gripping from the beginning, and while I would say it is a slower-paced mystery with more tension and suspense than clues to jump around with, it is interesting and the weird little oddities Olivia runs into, and the piecing together of the puzzle, and the interspersed articles and phone calls and emails after each chapter really keeps things moving. The ending had me absolutely losing it! I so often feel like an ending to a mystery can make the entire thing, or totally ruin it, and for me the ending of this book was a real win! I didn't see it coming at all, yet as Olivia slowly realizes what is going on, I, too, could see the small clues that had been placed carefully. This is a book I definitely would like to reread. The last couple of chapters, my gosh!

Thank you so much for the opportunity of reading and reviewing!